Day: May 26, 2014

The news report of May 24 that of a woman lawyer and her two friends from northeast being chased by a group of lawyers, who slapped and threatened her is condemnable beyond any words. The incident was an out fall of an alleged molestation of the woman from Nagaland studying at the Delhi University by a lawyer at the Vishwavidyalaya Metro station on the evening of May 22. According to the news report carried by the Indian Express, the accused lawyer allegedly passed lewd remarks at the woman student from Nagaland. The woman objected and then the accused came close and molested her. Passers-by near the Metro station nabbed the lawyer and handed him to the police. On the following day the woman along with her lawyer and friends went to court. An unruly mob of lawyers chased and attacked them in the court premises. They warned the victim with dire consequences if the case is not withdrawn against the accused lawyer. Court staff had to call the police as the mob of lawyers was getting uncontrollable. The counsel of the woman has alleged that the lawyers even tore the shirt of the investigation officer. They threw ink on the files of the investigating officer. It was also reported that some students representatives of northeast student bodies based in Delhi, who accompanied the victim to express their solidarity were not spared from the attack. Here, we would like to dismiss the shock element of ‘law practitioners’ breaking the law at a court premise. We would leave the matter at the disposal of the law itself, as there has been report of FIRs being registered against the violent lawyers. Incidents of attack on the people from the northeast in different parts of the country, more particularly in the Capital city of Delhi are not new occurrences. These have been going almost on a regular basis. There have been deliberations among the concerned citizens ranging from the people in academics to the civil organisations on these issues. Groups are being formed at various levels for a positive intervention. For instance a voluntary group based in Delhi was in Imphal a few days back. The group has promised to provide all possible assistance to the people of the northeast like free transportation and medical care in the Capital for a safe stay. These are the words of the Samaritans with a skewed perspective, we would say. As many commentators would often say that there is a need to bring the people of the northeast into the ‘mainstream’, and that people to people interaction must be encouraged. Agreed that India as a country is a mosaic of cultural and ethnic identities. But case like racial segregation cannot be handled by slogan like ‘unity in diversity’ unless the issue is addressed from the vantage point of the Indian state, of how they perceived the northeast. The stark reality like the imposition of draconian law of Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the states of northeast India should be the entry point to locate skewed perspective. Perry Anderson in his ‘Indian Ideology’ takes a critical look of the ‘unspoken realities of the Indian polity’. Anderson quotes historian Ananya Vajpeyi, who says ‘what AFSPA effectively does is to create an entirely separate space within India, a sort of second and shadow nation, that functions as a military state rather than electoral democracy’. Though Anderson does not prescribe fully to Ananya’s contestation on AFSPA viv-à-vis the northeast in the context of debating on the idea of India as a republic; we, however, would burrow Ananya’s ‘shadow nation’ to contextualise the skewed perspective of the Indian state and its ‘mainstream’ people particularly towards the northeast people. There is an AFSPA like approach employed by the ‘mainland’ people while dealing with the northeast people. Racial discrimination is another form of AFSPA, and this perhaps is another dimension where from we can engage the debate afresh.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/attacking-the-shadow-nation/

All eyes will be on the Rashtrapati Bhavan with Narendra Modi swearing-in as the 15th Prime Minister of India. Modi is the man of the moment. In the rank and file of the Bharatiya Janata Party, perhaps there is no other party man other than Modi who has a canny sense of seizing the moment. Alongside, he also has a deep sense of chiseling extraordinary moment out of the ordinary. Modi uses metaphors even better than the then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who never misses to sprinkle a few lines of poetry in his speeches. During his visit to Varanasi, post-election result, Modi offered symbolic prayer at the riverside of Ganga – a river that is deeply entrenched in the religious psyche of the Hindus. A mammoth team of media trailed Modi wherever he moved; his visit to his mother to seek blessings, his thanks giving visit to the voters of Varanasi and his show of veneration of the place. Modi knelt down on the steps of the Parliament House on the day of the Parliamentary Board meeting to show his respect for the institution, just before entering inside the House. Modi well knew that all his actions were televised across the country, and that it was beamed directly to the millions of viewers at real time. He calls the Parliament as the ‘temple’ of democracy and BJP his mother; he choked and all his party men choked too. One could imagine the reaction of the hoi polio, not only of the voters of the Hindi heartland, but also the voters of emotive-India, who can shed tears with the television serials every day. The country has never been witness to such display of emotion, both outside and inside the Parliament by political leaders, adroitly scripted by Modi through his metaphors of words and actions. Though the party will deny, BJP is a political organ of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which has a concrete base of building cadres right from the grass root level. In fact, the Communist and the BJP are the two major political parties in India that are cadre based. Modi left home early in his life to join the RSS. One may not adhere with the kind of ideology that the BJP or the RSS asserts. But here is one man like Modi, who out of his belief of a certain principle has stood by his commitment for a good part of his life. In short, Modi has lived by what he believes to be true and made them his ideal. This was elucidated by Modi himself during his speech in the Parliamentary Board meeting. Modi said whatever he has done for his party is nothing extra ordinary. He said he has simply performed the role of a soldier. His electoral campaign was taken out following the command of his party leader Rajnath Singh. His acceptance of the Prime Ministerial seat is also an act of accepting the responsibility that BJP high command has bestowed on him. Before that Modi had climbed through the ranks of cadre, to the level that he was assigned the task of mobilising the Kar Sewaks during the LK Advani led Rath Yatra.This was how Modi was tamperedthrough many of the Hindutvamovements. And this was from these grounds that hehas learned to connect with the people.Some commentators having observed Modi and the BJP’s rousing victory in the Lok Sabha election have gone on to claim that the party has soften its Hindutva stand. However, it must be registered that the political and ideological undertaking of establishing a Hindu Rashtra remains the same. Tactics is what they have changed by handing the charge to a committed man, who could steer his way through different political terrains. The BJP has chosen a man of craftsmanship in Modi who can be projected, and who in turn can inflate the party’s image. How and where do Modi steers the country through is left to be seen.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/05/modi-in-the-drivers-seat/